Our work is the presentation of our capabilities.

The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature.

There is nothing perhaps more adverse to nature and reason than to hold in obedience remote countries and foreign nations, in opposition to their inclination and interest.

Does there exist a single instance of a saint asserting that he himself possessed the gift of miracles?

Every event, or appearance, or accident, which seems to deviate from the ordinary course of nature has been rashly ascribed to the immediate action of the Deity.

The peace of the Eastern church was invaded by a swarm of fanatics [monks], incapable of fear, or reason, or humanity; and the Imperial troops acknowledged, without shame, that they were much less apprehensive of an encounter with the fiercest Barbarians.

The author himself is the best judge of his own performance; none has so deeply meditated on the subject; none is so sincerely interested in the event.